The AJ Pierzynski contract negotiations with the Yankees reminded me of a somewhat forgotten part of Sox history. Carlton Fisk had a career year in 1985, but he was also a free agent at the end of the season. Fisk came very close to going to the Yankees in a sign-and-trade for Don Baylor. Hawk had just become GM, and he was intent on Baylor being the new Sox DH (taking over Greg Luzinski) with Joel Skinner being the new catcher.

At various points, the trade was a straight one-for-one deal with Fisk going for Baylor (both guys were represented by the same agent at the time), and at other points the trade involved as many as nine players. Kittle and Britt Burns were rumored to go the Yankees as part of the deal.

Reading the old Sun-Times & Tribune articles on Google News is fascinating. It's amazing how candid Einhorn was in talking about the negotiations in public. He was the exact opposite to the "under the radar" approach.